Woman, 93, with dementia died after eating washing pod

A coroner has issued a warning after a 93-year-old woman with dementia died after eating laundry capsules that “looked like sweets”.

Elizabeth van der Drift died from a combination of aspiration pneumonia, ingesting the toxic laundry tablets, and dementia on 19 March.

A carer told the inquest into Ms van der Drift’s death that the packaging for the laundry pods “bore more than a passing resemblance to a bag of sweets”, a prevention of future deaths report (PFD) said.

Assistant coroner Ian Potter, based in central north London, warned that regulations may pay “insufficient regard” to the risks posed to dementia suffers and the cognitively impaired.

Ms van der Drift lived with dementia for “a number of years” and regularly could not remember when she last ate food, Mr Potter said.

He said she would often “go in search in something to eat” and on 13 or 14 March “gained access to laundry detergent tablets or pods that were brightly coloured” and “bit into at least one of them”.

The product was described as “predominantly bright pink and white, with orange, yellow and green also present”.

It also had no “obvious design feature” that would make it difficult for someone with “even the most basic of manual dexterity” to access the “potentially sweet-like” pods, Mr Potter said.

Shortly after consuming the product, Ms van der Drift was found complaining of stomach pain and shortness of breath.

An ambulance was called and she died in hospital days later.

The inquest found her death was accidental.

The PFD said: “It has long been acknowledged that products of this nature can pose risks to children; however, there appears to be less acknowledgement of the risks posed to those living with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment.”

The coroner said the “bright, eye-catching colours” were an “industry-wide phenomenon”.

As a result, sending the warning to the individual manufacturer would be “short-sighted”, he said.

Instead, the report was issued to the chief executive officer of the Office for Product Safety and Standards, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and the director general of the UK Cleaning Product Industry Association.

The regulations prohibit the supply of products that are unfit for human consumption but are likely to be mistaken for food, and explicitly mention the risk to children.

Recipients of the PFD must respond to the report by 8 October this year with details of the action taken, proposed to be taken, or why no action is taken, unless the coroner extends the period.